1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to data communication networks and in particular to a manner of fabric detection and fabric configuration in a data communication network.
2. Description of Related Art
Data communication networks allow many different computing devices, for example, personal computers, IP telephony devices and/or servers, to communicate with each other and/or with various other network elements or remote servers attached to the network. For example, data communication networks may include, without limitation, Metro Ethernet or Enterprise Ethernet networks that support multiple applications including, for example, voice-over-IP (VoIP), data and video applications. Such networks regularly include many interconnected nodes, commonly known as switches or routers, for routing traffic through the network.
The various nodes are often distinguished based on their location within particular areas of the network, commonly characterizing two or three “tiers” or “layers,” depending on the size of the network. Conventionally, a three tier network includes an edge layer, an aggregation layer and a core layer (whereas a two tier network includes only an edge layer and core layer). The edge layer of data networks includes edge (also called access) networks that typically provide connectivity from a customer or home network, such as a local area network, to a metro or core network. The edge/access layer is the entry point of the network, i.e., to which the customer network is nominally attached, and the switches residing at the edge layer are known as edge switches. Different types of edge networks include digital subscriber line, hybrid fiber coax (HFC), fiber to the home and various customer networks, such as campus and data center networks. Edge switches may perform, for example, L2 switching functions for the attached devices. The edge switches are generally connected to one or more end devices in the customer network, and also to an aggregation layer that terminates access links coming from multiple edge switches. Switches residing at the aggregation layer are known as aggregation switches. Aggregation switches may perform, for example, L2 switching and L3 routing of traffic received via the aggregate links from the edge switches. The aggregation layer is connected to a metro or core network layer that performs Layer 3/IP routing of traffic received from the aggregation switches (in a three tier network) or from edge switches (in a two tier network). As will be appreciated, nodes at each incremental layer of the network typically have larger capacity and faster throughput.
Currently, the switches in a data communication network are manually and independently configured for some core features, such as link aggregation, VLAN configuration and SPB configuration, to form the network fabric (network topology). For example, a network administrator typically manually determines what each port of a switch is connected to and then appropriately configures each of the ports. In a deployment, such as a campus or data center, the network administrator may have to manually configure hundreds of edge/aggregation and core switches.